1
as in ungrammatical
violating approved patterns of speaking and writing
most of the messages left on the Web site's bulletin board are illiterate
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ignorant
lacking in education or the knowledge gained from books
offered menus with pictures, presumably for the many illiterate people who must eat there
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in ignoramus
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of illiterate
Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2025
Danny Robb, JSTOR Daily, 8 Aug. 2025
The teens appeared to be illiterate, according to deputies.
—Olivia Lloyd
updated July 28, Miami Herald, 28 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for illiterate
Adjective
Her existence in the vibrant capital city of Sepphoris brings into questions some of our traditional assumptions of Mary as an impoverished illiterate from a backwater rural village with no exposure to Greco-Roman culture.
—Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2025
Noun
This was particularly important given that much of their peasant audience was illiterate, Palmer explains.
—Danny Robb, JSTOR Daily, 8 Aug. 2025
The teens appeared to be illiterate, according to deputies.
—Olivia Lloyd
updated July 28, Miami Herald, 28 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for illiterate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for illiterate
Adjective
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But if language exemplifies the human capacity for internalizing grammatical conventions, then my moment of rule-breaking does not in fact expose some ungrammatical first nature.—
Harmon Siegel,
Artforum,
1 Oct. 2025
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And in general, the A.I. bots were useful for sharpening prose and cleaning up clunky, ungrammatical sentences.—
Brian X. Chen,
New York Times,
1 Feb. 2023
Adjective
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The pilot has moments both sweet and funny, and sets up the possibility of romance amongst the characters, as well as further high jinks from a rotating cast of license seekers and citizens ignorant of the requirements for a Real ID.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
11 Oct. 2025
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At the time, central Appalachia was widely depicted in the popular press as a backward, ignorant region whose mountainous terrain kept its people isolated, outside the flow of progress – a stereotype still common today.—
The Conversation,
The Conversation,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
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And yet Danielle is currently playing The Traitors so poorly — making big, sloppy, conspicuous moves, alienating potential allies, and fancying herself an Oscar-winning actress while displaying community-center theatrics — that even scene-stealing ignoramus Tom Sandoval has taken notice.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
30 Jan. 2025
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And finally, there is Remy (Guillaume Cyr), a well-meaning security guard at the Quebec Maple Association who is a bit of an ignoramus.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
6 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Then there are those who rage against their children’s accomplishments, clinging to the hierarchy agreed upon when the child was a helpless know-nothing.—
Madeline Leung Coleman,
Vulture,
27 Aug. 2025
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Lewis’s superficial attack abets the know-nothing Trump Administration, which spurns cooperative allies and rational arrangements.—
Harper’s Magazine,
Harpers Magazine,
16 July 2025
Noun
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Highbrow, lowbrow, and everything in-between, Shudder’s marathon birthday party from 2025 should be remembered like an axe to the forehead.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
16 Oct. 2025
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Who says the eyebrow and the lowbrow don’t mix?—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
22 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Illiterate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/illiterate. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.
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